Veteran Australian broadcaster Alan Jones has apologised for saying Prime Minister Julia Gillard's father died of shame because of her political "lies".

Jones says he has attempted to contact Ms Gillard to apologise directly after comments made at a "rollicking" Liberal fundraiser last weekend were made public.

The 2GB broadcaster says he acknowledges his actions may have caused her distress and added to Ms Gillard's grief and loss.

Jones says he repeated the comments, which were initially made by someone at his godson's birthday party earlier in the day he delivered the address to the University of Sydney Liberal Club.

Jones told the $100-per-head dinner last Saturday that "every person in the caucus of the Labor Party knows that Julia Gillard is a liar."

In the secret recording by a News Limited journalist, members of the audience can be heard gasping with surprise at the comments.

"The old man died a few weeks ago of shame," Jones said.

"To think that he had a daughter who told lies every time she stood for Parliament."

To even offer any impression that I might seek to diminish the grief that a daughter would feel for her father, independently who that daughter might be, is unacceptable.

Alan Jones

Jones also suggested during the speech that Ms Gillard's "tears of grief" for her 83-year-old father sparked a leap in the polls.

But the controversial broadcaster backed away from his remarks today, saying that to repeat them was wrong.

"To even offer any impression that I might seek to diminish the grief that a daughter would feel for her father, independently who that daughter might be, is unacceptable," he said.

"The fact it's the Prime Minister adds an extra dimension to it.

"Let's be honest about this. A person like me shouldn't have made that comment anywhere.

"As I said, those comments shouldn't have been repeated. I don't regret that; I apologise for that."

Jones said he thought it was a private function and was unaware there were journalists in the room.

"When people feel a sense of frustration and they don't feel as they have got anywhere else to turn, they then, I suppose, adopt this black parody which I, foolishly with my experience, shouldn't have repeated," he said.

"I spoke without notes for 58 minutes, I have no idea the material that I covered.

"I just say it as I see it. It was a raucous night and everyone was into it. But that's not an explanation, not an excuse."

He said he has contacted Ms Gillard's office in a bid to apologise in person.

"It's incumbent upon me that I make that a call," he said.

"She may not want to take the call. She is a human being before she is a Prime Minister."

A signed "chaff-bag jacket" was auctioned off at the event - a reference to previous comments by the broadcaster that Ms Gillard should be put in a chaff bag and thrown out to sea.

Also auctioned were "budgie smugglers" signed by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, and fishnet stockings signed by former Liberal minister Alexander Downer.

'Voice of hate'

Jones comments have been met with derision from politicians and the public alike.

Twitter erupted with heated reaction to the comments after they came to light on Saturday evening.

Federal MP's are now pushing for a boycott of Jones's radio show and are even calling for him to be taken off air.

Former primer minister Kevin Rudd says the broadcaster's comments are the "lowest of the low" and he should be banished from the Liberal party and future Liberal events.

I think he's past his use-by date to be frank. He's a voice of hate and vilification.

Despite the criticism, Jones says the incident is unlikely to cause him to hold back during his radio show.

"As Jack Gibson says, I don't have time for committee meetings. I'm going hammer and tongs for four hours," he said.

"You are thinking, your head is full and you are thinking and delivering. You hope you get it right. There are times you don't. You hope you don't say something that you regret [but] there are times you do and you don't have to sort of call press conferences when you do.

"When it involves the Prime Minister and there is a risk, very serious risk of injury to her emotional well-being, then it's very important that you don't hide behind a piece of paper in a press release."

Jones says the management at 2GB and his program's advertisers are well aware of his position on political issues.

He says his advertisers are not looking to withdraw their sponsorship of his program.

"The advertisers aren't queuing up to pull their advertising," he said.

"That's a matter for the station. I'm confident the station understands quite clearly what my position is on a lot of issues and that the advertisers equally understand that and it will be business as usual."

Jones also moved to separate himself from fellow shock-jock Kyle Sandilands.

"I know nothing about Kyle Sandilands. I have met him twice in my life," he said.

"I think everyone in this room knows and the hundreds of thousands of people who listen with me - I do a lot of work in preparing material for my program. It is thorough and I do that research myself, all day and all night. I don't go in half-cooked.

"If you want to draw that analogy that's fine. I'm comfortable with the preparation I do and the safeguards we have in place to make sure circumstances like this don't occur."